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Old 03-17-2008, 12:50 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay View Post
In my experience (one child, Cobb county), no.
Yes, cursive is not as "necessary" as in the past...but, remember there are many people/students with writing and processing difficulties that benefit from cursive writing and exposure. Cursive writing is a better form of writing for many people. I work with a 4th grade student now and cursive writing is really improving his writing and processing.

So...should schools "focus" as much on cursive...no. Should schools still expose students to cursive...yes.
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Old 03-17-2008, 01:37 PM
 
Location: East Cobb
2,206 posts, read 6,879,619 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aries4118 View Post
So...should schools "focus" as much on cursive...no. Should schools still expose students to cursive...yes.
Actually, that is precisely what my one-child sample has experienced. The question I was answering was Are schools still wasting elementary students' time with cursive? and to that my answer was, and remains, no. There was cursive exposure in elementary, but very little time spent on it.

As it happens, in 7th grade my child encountered a Language Arts teacher who loves calligraphy and considers cursive writing a valuable skill. This teacher gave a bit of cursive review/instruction in class, then required some assignments to be handwritten, and graded on handwriting as well as content. My bright but untidy child grumbled enormously but, somewhat to my surprise, pulled out a heretofore unsuspected ability to produce meticulous handwriting.

As a result, my child's everyday note-taking handwriting became lastingly clearer, and she can produce really nice handwriting when motivated, such as in a thank-you note. This was probably the best thing that teacher did for her students, actually! Perhaps in another generation, handwriting will become completely unnecessary. For now, I'd say that a bit of handwriting coaching at middle-school age seems efficient and effective at imparting adequate handwriting schools. Much better than having elementary students labor over it.
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Old 03-17-2008, 02:31 PM
 
16,662 posts, read 29,409,193 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay View Post
Actually, that is precisely what my one-child sample has experienced. The question I was answering was Are schools still wasting elementary students' time with cursive? and to that my answer was, and remains, no. There was cursive exposure in elementary, but very little time spent on it.

As it happens, in 7th grade my child encountered a Language Arts teacher who loves calligraphy and considers cursive writing a valuable skill. This teacher gave a bit of cursive review/instruction in class, then required some assignments to be handwritten, and graded on handwriting as well as content. My bright but untidy child grumbled enormously but, somewhat to my surprise, pulled out a heretofore unsuspected ability to produce meticulous handwriting.

As a result, my child's everyday note-taking handwriting became lastingly clearer, and she can produce really nice handwriting when motivated, such as in a thank-you note. This was probably the best thing that teacher did for her students, actually! Perhaps in another generation, handwriting will become completely unnecessary. For now, I'd say that a bit of handwriting coaching at middle-school age seems efficient and effective at imparting adequate handwriting schools. Much better than having elementary students labor over it.
I know, I understood your point. I just "quoted" your post because it was the most recent on the dialogue about cursive. It would have been better to quote netdragon, but his was too long...and I didn't have the time to delete parts at that moment.

The experience with your child shows how we should approach handwriting.
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Old 03-17-2008, 07:46 PM
 
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Thanks again for all of the responses. My son and I both agreed at this point that he would take the Accel Math I course again. The new books that we saw tonight encouraged me, they are more succinct, and have better explanations than the "trial" textbooks he used this year. The book can actually be a non-frustrating resource tool. He will also be taking Honors English, Honors Biology, French 2, P.E., and a Computer/business applications course. All in all, I am pleased, it should be a great experience.

In regards to cursive, hardly any of the kids write in cursive. It is a shame because as another poster mentioned, often the child's cursive is much better than their manuscript printing. My son's printing is legible, barely. His cursive a thing of beauty. He generally types longer assignments for neatness. So many bright kids have poor handwriting. But it is all about functionality, and my son is functional as are many other kids with poor writing.
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Old 03-18-2008, 06:31 AM
 
Location: East Cobb
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OHG, I'm happy that you and your son have worked out a high school program that you are both comfortable and pleased about. That's great.

Your comments about textbooks have surprised me. My big complaint about my daughter's experience of Math 7/8 and Accel Math I is that for the past 2 years she has had NO math textbook. Not one. She and her classmates just get photocopied notes from the teacher. This has really aggravated me because when my daughter has needed help, I've had no exposition of the material to refer to, and no source of extra practice problems. Luckily I can remember the math at this level all right, but I don't know how it's being presented at school.

Now, to my surprise, I'm thinking that possibly my daughter's textbook-less state may not be the worst thing possible, under the circumstances. It sounds like the textbook your son got was a detraction, if anything.

I wonder if my daughter will see a textbook in Accel Math II next year. Who knows?
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Old 03-18-2008, 11:05 AM
 
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Rainy, there is a new book for Accel Math II. I actually held it in my hands last night at the orientation, didn't look too bad!! Check on the GA math website, which of course right now I can't think of the url. Success to you and your daughter for next year.
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Old 03-18-2008, 11:38 AM
 
340 posts, read 1,574,457 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldhousegirl View Post
My son is hanging in there and has received a mid to lower level "B" throughout the school year. If he takes "Track 1" in H.S. he would go into Accel Math II. If he chooses "Track 2" he would be in Accel Math I, which would esentially be a repeat of his 8th grade year in course work, but a different teacher because he would be in H.S.
.
You could give him some help by tutoring him or hiring a math tutor. It's boring to repeat the same level of math. Your investment will be well worth it to cut his time in learning the same thing just because his teacher may not explain concepts clearly for everyone to understand. Those so called brightest kids may have had help already that you don't know. My son is in the six grade Accel Math, who I often tutor, he can make almost 100%, but if I don't help him understand the basic concepts, he may have slipped. I mean the school doesn't teach everything. Parents have to get much involved in their education, even though they are in advanced or private school.
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Old 03-18-2008, 01:58 PM
 
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Quote:
I mean the school doesn't teach everything. Parents have to get much involved in their education, even though they are in advanced or private school.
Yeah City, I agree. It is up to the parents to educate their child. He has had extra help, which is why I think that repeating would be a plus for him. Also, many kids including the whizz kids HAVE had additional help. They are not all just magically getting advanced concepts.
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Old 03-18-2008, 02:13 PM
 
Location: East Cobb
2,206 posts, read 6,879,619 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldhousegirl View Post
Also, many kids including the whizz kids HAVE had additional help. They are not all just magically getting advanced concepts.
Absolutely. Back in the fall when my daughter was struggling (for her) in Accelerated Math 1, she was bewailing how stupid she must be because she needed help from her parents. I said what nonsense, everyone in her class was probably getting help from parents. She said no, no, no, anyway, most parents don't know all this math. I said probably the only kids left in the accelerated math program (there was some attrition during the middle school years) would be those whose parents were good at math. At the school open house, one parent of a child in her class had been identified as a high school math teacher! What did other kids' parents do?

My daughter said she didn't know what peoples' parents did and she was sure her classmates didn't get help with math. I said "Oh come on. Who sits near you in class? What do their parents do?" And this elicited "Well... X's mom works on like, Star Wars or something. X is always mentioning that, she seems proud of her mom. And Y's parents are both pharmacists, as you already know. Oh, P's dad is an engineer, and so is Q's dad, oh and R's too. T's mom is some kind of scientist, in medical research I think. Oh... maybe they do help their kids with math."

Yeah. No wonder school scores track income levels so much.
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Old 03-18-2008, 08:06 PM
 
340 posts, read 1,574,457 times
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^Yeah, it seems like we are all on the same page. There is no way for any kids to understand math concepts very well without extra help from somewhere. My child has been in gifted class since elementry school and always done well in all subjects. When he started middle school and was placed in Accel Math, things started to get complicated, but I jumped in checking everything on regular basis and found out some homework was not explained in the classroom. Kids have problems to understand them and books just didn't help. I ended up with reteaching him and streching beyond school's level. The teacher might want to do a good job, however he/she may not have looked at the detail which troubles students big time. If parents don't find out, kids just slip off. Another way to help kids is always teach them more than school requires so they feel so easy on schools homework. Math is one of the most important subjects in education, which eventually helps kids in learing Physics, Chemistry, and other siences. It is also time sensitive. Once kids past certain age they are not interested in low level math and hard to retain concepts. Hope to hear other's comments and experience in teaching kids.
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